


Zero Deaths Rescue Mission

by Death_Of_Multiverse



Series: Parallel Universes of Catastrophe [1]
Category: YouTube RDF
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Crimes & Criminals, Crossover, F/F, F/M, Hitmen, Homophobia, M/M, Magic, Mental Health Issues, Mob Boss AU, Murderers, New York City, Past Child Abuse, Self-Harm, Slow Burn, Suicide, Suicide Attempt, Torture, and various OCs to fill the bodybags, getting your hands dirty, semi accurate descriptions of mafia innerworkings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:00:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26122345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Death_Of_Multiverse/pseuds/Death_Of_Multiverse
Summary: 15 years ago a dark spirit rested in a newborn baby, 15 years later during VidCon the YouTubers disappeared. Some say it's a prank, but she knew exactly what had happened.Skye's life is a complete catastrophe. Her parents were murdered, her grandparents planned to send her away so she ran away from her safe haven, joining one of the world's most violent mobs in the world, becoming an assassin then the boss of Plague Writes... not counting multiple suicide attempts and being bullied. She couldn't escape her fate so she decided to embrace it, but karma's always a bitch.Join Skye and her friends on a completely messed up rescue mission to find the YouTubers and learn about her past. Will she succeed finding them without dying? Or will they disappear from existence forever?Inspired by Crisscross (Streets Akin to Veins) by Pseudthisyafucks(collettephinz) on Archive Of Our Own.Disclaimer: Swearing, mental abuse, torture, self-harming, suicide, homophobia, homicide.(Will be on hiatus until Synths and Magic is finished)
Relationships: Dan Howell/Phil Lester, Felix Kjellberg/Sean McLoughlin, Lizzie Dwyer/Joel | SmallishBeans, Mark Fischbach/Amy Nelson, Marzia Bisognin/Felix Kjellberg, Original Character/Original Character, Sean McLoughlin/Evelien Smolders
Series: Parallel Universes of Catastrophe [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1896739
Kudos: 4





	1. All Are History

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Crisscross (Streets Akin to Veins)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16145549) by [Pseudthisyafucks (collettephinz)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/collettephinz/pseuds/Pseudthisyafucks). 



15 years ago from present:

_Westminster, London wasn't really the best place to live in. In fact, it was actually the worst in London for the amount of violent crimes which happen there. Though Westminster was quintessentially London, for years it has been the borough with the highest violent rates, and has one of the highest crime rates in the United Kingdom. With its high crime rates, this tiny borough is very dangerous, especially when something paranormal, extramundane and incomprehensible happens._

_The Middletons had been hiding for three months in different cities now. From Manchester to Wellingborough, south to Reading and Brighton. But everywhere they go, paranormal activities happen. With little money left, they managed to find an apartment in Westminster and settle down a bit. After giving birth to Skylett, they had to be more cautious than before about their surroundings since Skylett is a new born baby and they knew they were in danger. For a month without paranormal activities happening, the Middletons thought they finally escaped and could finally live peacefully. But no. They never escaped from fate and death came a few days later, forcing them to suffer for the rest of the eternity as a dark spirit rested in the new born baby, so that if she managed to escape from death, her life will be full of grief, enduring and torturing. As what people say, "Karma's a bitch"._

...

"Rosana! Run!" Marques shouted, "And remember to take Skylett! Go! I will be fine!"

"Stay safe Marques, I'll see you later." Rosana said while running across the messy apartment to take Skylett from the crib as the door was blasted, or exploded violently into nothing but fine sawdust by a strong force.

A mysterious hooded man stormed into the apartment, holding his wand straight at Marques and asked "Where is my wife and daughter?" he asked, he glanced at the apartment and threatened

"Answer me immediately or I will kill you right here, right now."

"You know what? I would rather be killed by a psychopathic idiot than giving up their location." Marques answered boldly, trying to give time to Rosana and hide Skylett in the upstairs nursery.

"So be it. Say goodbye." the hooded man sneered as bright green light flashes, and Marques was found dead lying on the cold hard floor. Then the man continued his way up the flight of stairs and entered the nursery, caught sight of Rosana holding Skylett tightly like her life depended on her.

"Rosana honey, please step aside and come with me," he begged her while staring at Skylett right in the eyes. Her strange shifting colour that seems to alternate from blue to green to amber, and a starburst of silver in the middle of the blue, flecks and streaks like meteors shooting across the cloudless azure sky. "I really don't want to hurt you my dear, just let me kill her now and go home. Please Rosana, you're the love of my life, over all these years you're the one who caught my eyes and stole my breath. I just want to destroy the god damn prophecy and go home with you." he stepped forward but Rosana blocked his way.

"In these five years, you took my family and my friends away from me. I got no choice and had to fully submit to you. This is not love Lucifer!" Rosana cried, pulling out her wand from nightstand nest to the crib and point it at her throat after putting the baby in the crib. She continued, "The last five years! You literally took everything away from me and brought me to that hellhole of yours! All because of you! I lost everything and I can't go back to my family because of your paranormal stunts! And now you even killed Marques! You are a devil!"

"Of course I'm a devil, because I really am I devil! Do you think I'm just a normal evil wizard taking you to somewhere known as the Underworld?" Lucifer smirked, knowing everything is going as planned. But the only twist is, someone was here.

"Helga! Salazar! I'm sure he's in this house!" a woman shouted.  
They came back to their senses, Rosana hissed with her wand still pointing at her throat, "Someone is coming, and you're the one to blame. Hej du, en tik!"

"Wait no!" Lucifer shouted, trying to stop her. But he knew he was too late once Rosana said "I'm sorry Skylett. Avada Kedavra."

Lucifer stared at the corpse in shock. But vanished into the thin air immediately when he heard footsteps downstairs.

...

"Helga! I told you to go workout, now look! We're too late!" Godric Gryffindor screamed angrily at Helga Hufflepuff, "We let Watcher escaped again!"

"You bloody Gryffindor! Don't scream at my wife like that!" Salazar Slytherin bellowed and let Helga hold on him and pant.

"Godric! Salazar! Stop arguing! I don't care what in the actual earth you two are arguing about but our daughter's life is in grave danger. So shut up and... no!" Rowena Ravenclaw screamed once she saw her lifeless daughter on the floor. 

"No, no, no, no, no! Why..." she sobbed, "Marques and Rosana are dead... why must it be them Godric?"

"I really don't know dear..." Godric answered, "But we need to go. Muggles will see us and police sirens are near."

"Rowena, let's go..." Helga said, picking Skylett from the crib with a silver locket next to her. Rowena nodded slowly and apparated to a mansion next to a lake and a castle known as Hogwarts.

...

10 years ago from present:

"Skylett. Remember you need think of your happiest memory, and then say 'Expecto Patronum'." Rowena instructed Skylett, "Now try to cast the patronus charm."

"Expecto Patronum!" Skylett shouted as she pointed her mother's old wand at a dementor boggart. A weak dragon patronus shot out of the wand and flew towards the boggart, causing it to float back just before Rowena banished it back into an old, rusty closet.

"I knew you can do it! Now take five. But after the rest, I expect you to be able to cast a proper patronus charm." Rowena told her granddaughter, "I don't care what your mother would say if she were here. And I need you to meet my expectations or else you're not getting a new wand from Ollivanders and the Nimbus 2014."

"I'm getting a new wand and a broomstick?" Skylett asked, her kaleidoscope eyes as wide as a plate.

"Correct. But you need to cast a proper patronus first."

"Oh my goodness yay! This is the best Christmas ever!" the five years old shouted, jumping up and down around the backyard of the mansion.

"Wifey? Skye? Stop practicing! It's time for Christmas Eve dinner! And we have guests! Clean up and get ready for dinner!" Godric shouted at them from the balcony, "Honey, just give her a break, we're already a thousand years old and she's just five. Even we look like we're in our thirties, we're still a thousand years old babe!"

"Can you shush Godric?" Rowena spat as Godric jumped off the balcony, "And could you please stop jumping off the freaking balcony? I don't want you to get hurt."

"Come on honey, I have been doing that since all of the Founders moved here and I still have yet to get hurt." Godric said and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Oi! Get a room you two! There's a kid here!" Salazar shouted at them, "And the guests are here! But I'm sure that Merlin and the Potters enjoy watching you snogging."

"Shut the fuck up Salazar!" Godric shouted back.

"LANGUAGE!" Skylett said after she casted an amplifying charm on herself. Which caused everyone to snort and went back into the warm mansion.

...

The Christmas Eve dinner was as lovely as always. The entire Order of the Phoenix came for the party and the dance. Skylett decided to take a rest and go to the library read some books about space. But when she sneaked into the library, she crumpled and ran back to her room after she heard what the Founders and Merlin said.

"What does they mean by sending me away?" she spoke her thoughts aloud inside her room, "Do they hate me? Am I not good enough?" she placed around her room, trying to figure out and clear her mind after she heard the discussion. "I just couldn't... I'm leaving. I'm leaving now."

She took out her backpack and quickly stuffed her muggle clothes in it and took her valuables and stuffed them into her backpack. She quickly showered and pulled back her long wavy dark brown hair into a braided messy side bun. She also decided decided to change into a hooded double- breasted black peacoat and a blue sweater with black jeans beneath the warm, wool coat. Skylett looked at herself in the white cheval mirror and told herself, "Even though I'm not myself right now, but I'm leaving this place. If they want to send me away, I'll leave now. Goodbye Skylett, I'm Skye now. Just Skye. A random five years old in the streets." her kaleidoscope eyes turned purple for a second and back to normal, as if it's answering her. Skye smirked after she slung her black backpack on her shoulder, "Nice to meet you too Scarlett Watcher."

...

Since she took physical combat classes from Godric Gryffindor himself, jumping off the balcony from the second floor was pretty easy for her. She jumped off the balcony of her room and ran across the mansion to the stone wall. She knew running away from here was a one way ticket to hell, but it didn't stop her from climbing to the top of the high courtyard wall. She took one last look back at the mansion, and for a second her safe haven suddenly felt like a prison to her, and her grandparents, the people she loved, made her feel like they were just using her for their own advantage. She looked at the forest and the beautiful Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The warm light from the castle lit up a part of the school grounds. Just next to the forest, was a place she knew she had never been to, and never will. And she swing her legs over the outer edge of the wall and started to climb down. No hold backs. As she lowered herself in a gruelling slow motion down the wall, she realized that defined her entire life until that moment. When her feet finally hit the ground, she immediately made a run along the edge of the Forbidden Forest towards Hogsmeade and floo-powdered her way to Diagon Alley.

She immediately pulled up her hood and sneaked to a brick wall, knowing once she leaves this place she will never be able to go back to the wizarding world. She clenched her locket she had been wearing since "the accident", and tapped a few bricks on the wall and stepped into the muggle world.

"Goodbye wizarding world." Skye whispered.

But then she was hit by a baseball bat in the back of her head and fainted.

"Boss will be happy with this..." was the last thing she heard before she was thrown into the back of a truck and drove to somewhere unknown.

...

Pain.

It was the first thing she felt after she awoke. Her head throbbed with pain and her lips were dry. Skye tried to open her eyes and look around but she couldn't to feel more about the surroundings. Her hands moved a little and felt a softness under her. "Wait. If I was kidnapped why I feel softness under me? I should be lying on the cold hard ground?" 

Suddenly Skye's eyes popped open and sat straight, looking around the room and saw a man sitting next to the bed. He was wearing a two- piece suit, no tie and untucked, the buttons of the white undershirt undone at the top, his bags under his eyes were severe and his dark, curly hair was wild. She also noticed there was a rosary wrapped around his hand with the metal of the crucifix crushed and unrecognizable.

"So, you're finally awake." he said calmly, looking at Skye like she's his daughter. Skye felt something hard around her left wrist and saw she was handcuffed to the bed. She tugged the handcuffs and knew there's no way for her to escape.

Skye started to panic and confronted the man "Who are you? Why am I here? Where am I? What do you want from me? And how did I get here?" she asked, shrinking to the edge of the bed trying to get away from him.

"Woah calm down kiddo." he said, "The name's Emiliano Scott. You're here because two of my stupid goons decide to kidnap you and train you to become an assassin. We're somewhere in the air on our way to New York City and I want nothing from you. Since you know something about me I guess you're not going anywhere. And after you fainted, my goons drove you to the London City Airport. Then we boarded my private jet and here we are." he answered with a shrug.

"But I'm just a five year old girl, can I go back to London?" Skye pouted.

"But can you survive on your own?" Emiliano asked gently, "You can't survive on your own. And what is your name and why were you alone without your parents?"

"I'm Skye and I'm alone because I ran away from home. My mum and dad were murdered when I was only one month old and my grandparents decided to send me away." she answered softly under the blankets.

"Alright then," Emiliano said, "do you want to join us? But remember, it's a one way trip and there's no going back once you joined us."

Skye sat up straighter, thinking if she should join them. "Also, if you don't join us then I will have my goons to take care of you and it's... not gonna be good." Emiliano said.

"I'll join you." Skye answered.

"Perfect." Emiliano beamed, "Welcome to the Plague Writes." He said as they shook hands.

...

Skye knew more about Emiliano and Plague Writes for the rest of the flight. Emiliano was a 35 year old billionaire who owns E.S. Defense Group, a trans- European weapons manufacturer. And Plague Writes one of the four most violent mobs in the world. They sold black market weapons and specialized in the manufacturing and exportation of ghost weaponry, guns and knives and bombs without serials or any defining material.

"So, tell me something about yourself. What do you want to be when you grow up? What makes you happy? What are you good at?" Emiliano asked, sipping a bit of his Macallan Terra whiskey from a rocks glass.

"I want to be a astrophysicist when I grow up. Reading, learning new things, star gazing, drawing and singing makes me happy. So that's why I stayed up all night everyday and look at the stars." Skye answered, leaving Emiliano impressed and quite amused. She continued "I also map out all the stars I see for further studies. But I don't know what useful thing I'm good at." she said shyly, avoiding eye contact with the mob boss.

"You're kidding me right?" Emiliano asked, his brown eyes looking at her, "You just...fucking took down one of my bodyguards in 2 minutes and if I'm smart, then you're a damned genius! Don't look down on yourself Skye!" he said.

"But..." Skye retorted.

"No buts!" Emiliano interrupted, leaving no room for Skye to argue and effectively shutting her up, "Once we got back to New York City, I will ask two of my trainers to take care of you and train you to one of the best assassins in the Plague Writes. And you will also study under a scholarship program for school. Okay?" He asked and Skye nodded. "You're special Skye, and I don't want you to look down on yourself."

"Why I can't live with you?" Skye asked, "If you want me to come with you, why I can't live with you?"

"Because I...uh...don't have enough time to take care of you. And I don't want anyone know you're related to me. I have lots of work to do everyday and I always need to go to other places." Emiliano explained, he looked at his phone for a while and said, "We're landing now. Good luck Skye."

Skye could only agree, because this was her life now, one that was quite dangerous. She looked outside the window, trying to clear her mind. But there was no use. Her mind was all jumbled up and she couldn't make anything clear. She just hoped she could get some rest, and prepare herself for a lifetime of madness.

...

Present:

She knew she was right all along. Her life was complete madness. She spent all her days in Hong Kong studying and completing missions under the order of Emiliano. Stealing, hacking, torturing and even assassination. She was also being bullied by all her classmates at school because of being nerdy and even needed to be sent to the hospital on several occasions. Emiliano died in a assassination attack by an unidentified Mìngyún assassin when she was 12, which left Skye grieving for months and with depression. But on the bright side, Skye met her best friends Artemis, Andriena, Jeff, Yannick, Matthew, Nicole, Natalie, Kenisha and Arthur at school when she was six, who later joined Plague Writes(some joined due to being intelligent enough, some joined due to her occasional incapability to keep secrets and then we have Arthur, who just showed up one day and asked to join). They trusted each other so much that they practically told each other all their darkest secrets. Including Skye's alter egos, Scarlett Watcher and other egos she created.

Since Skye and her friends were now 15, they decided to celebrate their 'milestone' by going to VidCon 2020 in Los Angeles during summer to meet their YouTube idols and they were so excited about it. But once they were at the venue, all lights suddenly shut down and screams were heard. A while later the lights turned back on, but their YouTube stars went missing.

"Guys, what just happened?" Kenisha asked, "Is this some kind of joke or another Jake Paul stunt?"

"Um... where's Pewds, Jack and Markiplier?" Artemis asked.

"I have no fucking idea." Skye whispered, trying to figure out what just happened, with all the paranormal activities she experienced, this was the first thing she didn't know what happened. "Seriously, I don't know."

But deep down, she knew one thing: "Karma's a bitch".


	2. One Way Ticket

It's been two weeks since the YouTubers went missing. Their entire fan bases have been worried about their safety. Skye's friends kept asking her to use her "special abilities" to track them down. It's not like she hasn't tried, but the result was always the same. She couldn't track them down. Since 1. they were still teenagers and 2. they work for the Plague Writes, they couldn't just walk up to the police station or private detective for assistance. They needed to keep their identities secret. (Plus, who'd listen to some random adolescents?) Even though Skye was the secret "adopted child" of Mr Scott and can just order their own investigators to find them using their own technology, every time they delve deeper into the issue, something unexplainable just pops up. Like, what are those weird crimson particles floating in the air? Or why no one heard the missing YouTubers scream? Jacksepticeye and PewDiePie are known for their really (really really) loud voice and Dan Howell and AmazingPhil stick together 24/7. One of them must have had warned the others, right? But somehow the British and United States governments stopped all research, leaving everyone to panic.

But on the bright side, when they sneaked into the Anaheim Convention Center for the second time, Kenisha managed to find the calling cards of the Dontella family and Mìngyùn. And now it really left Skye spiraling with questions. "Why are there two calling cards?" She first scanned the Dontella family calling card, a queen of clubs poker card with the Dontella crest, a Marsican brown bear roaring rather violently with a wreath of grape vines beneath, and found nothing. She then scanned the Mìngyùn calling card, a red and gold four of clubs poker card with the Mìngyùn crest, a qilin crushing a peony, in the middle of the card. And found one of the corners was dipped in a very special and rare ink from Nepal used to handprint on a Gurkha Black Dragon cigar. The Dontella family gives one of those cigars to their own made men, so that meant...

"The Dontellas and Mìngyùn have been working together." Skye concluded. " But there's no reason for them to go to VidCon since our identities were still hidden from everyone unless... they know who we are."

She grabbed the two calling cards, ran out of her hotel room and banged on the one opposite to hers. They were in grave danger and needed to leave immediately.  
"Everyone! Open the door and pack your things! We need to go!" Skye shouted, continuing to bang on the door.

"What the hell?" Jeff said, opening the door next to Skye's room and poked this head out, "Everyone's in here bro. And we also have something to tell you."

Skye walked into the room and saw all her friends in there. Kenisha, Artemis and Andriena were running tests on the particles on one side of the desk and Nicole, Natalie and Yannick typing something in their own laptops and Arthur and Matthew were taking care of everyone's weapons.

"Guys pack up everything and let's go." Skye ordered, "We have to go now. Immediately."

"What's the rush?" Arthur asked, immediately putting the swords he's holding away into its own case and locking it.  
"There's no goddamn time for that! I'll tell you during our flight back to New York City and I expect everyone to pack everything up in ten minutes and be ready to leave. Tik tok time is running out."

Then everyone left Jeff and Yannick's room and started packing their own things and equipment. Skye and Kenisha went to their own room and quickly stuffed everything they own into their own luggage.

"Skye, did you call Sneeze? You need to get the jet ready right?" Kenisha reminded her.

"Oh shit! Thanks Salazar." Skye thanked her and called Emilia, "Sneeze? It's Reaper. Is the jet still in John Wayne Airport? Awesome! Can you get it ready in twenty minutes? Yeah... sure! Oh and can you also order some takeaways? YOU BOUGHT GROCERIES AND PUT THEM IN THE KITCHEN?! By the way are the pilots ready? Okay. Thanks bro. See you later."

"What did she say?" Kenisha asked.

"She said that the plane is still in John Wayne Airport and it'll be ready in twenty. She also bought groceries and they're in the kitchen already."

"SHE BOUGHT GROCERIES?! Or did Klaudia buy them and have Emilia put them in the kitchen?" Kenisha asked.

"Or maybe we can ask Klaudia later? She never lies." Skye replied, packing her clothes and cosplay into the luggage, "By the way, where did you put my foundation? I can't find it."

"Oh! I helped you pack it in your luggage already." She answered, running into the bathroom and putting the toiletries into a bag.  
"Thanks Salazar!"

By the time everyone finished packing, they quickly left DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Hotel Anaheim Resort, hired two taxis and arrived at the Airport and saw Klaudia pacing around in the entrance.

"AGENT!" Natalie called her, giving her a small wave and ran towards her.

"Thank god you guys are finally here. What happened? I thought you want to stay behind for a little longer before going back to NYC!" Klaudia asked, leading them towards the Bombardier Challenger 850 jet. It was coal black color with a streak of blue and purple across the side, beneath the windows, and looked like something out of a spy movie. Absolutely Plague Writes style.

"Hey Agent. I'll tell you later." Skye said, "Is the jet ready now?"

"Yes."

"Awesome."

"Can I have Ezra and Snorp get Testing Chamber 1 ready? I believe they're still in The Hub, right?" Nicole requested.

"Okay." Skye replied.

They boarded the jet, had their security checked, settled down and it immediately took off.

"Whaddup bitches." Emilia greeted them, walking out of the kitchen with a can of G-Fuel in her hand.

"Is that my own stock of G-Fuel?" Klaudia asked.

"Yes.. NO! I mean no. No." Emilia said, her Polish accent heavied every word she spoke.

"YOU FUCKING POLISH BITCH!" Klaudia screamed at Emilia. Then she started chasing her around the jet, "You bitch! Why did you steal mine? Steal Arthur's!"

"Ey, don't pull me into this hell!" Arthur exclaimed, "Just steal Skye's stash! She got the largest stock among all of us!"

"Arthur you traitorous swine!" Skye gasped, clenching her chest. "I can't believe you betrayed me!"

"What? I'm just saying the truth!"

"Fuck you." Skye said, punched his arm.

"OW! GOD FUCK!" Arthur rubbed where Skye punched him and putting an oversaturated expression on his face.

"Karma's a bitch guys." Matthew laughed, while Emilia was shouting "I'm sorry! Let me go!" at Klaudia.

Twenty five minutes into the flight everything was still fine, until Skye called into an emergency meeting with everyone about the current situation.

"So people, you might be wondering this: why do we need to leave Anaheim back to New York City when we still need to do research about the missing YouTubers! Why? Anyone?" Skye said, standing up and fixing her black skater skirt.

"Because there's an emergency back in the headquarters?" Andriena asked.

"Actually, no. There's nothing wrong back in the Hub." Skye answered. "It's because of this." She took out the calling cards of the Dontella family and Mìngyùn from her black leather jacket, and continued, "They know who we are and that we're here. And the worst thing is... they're working together."

"WHAT?!" Jeff almost screamed, "But that's impossible! We never left any trace that led to us and we destroyed all the evidence about us!"

"Yeah! And we used the most effective method that can destroy all the evidence of what we did and no one knew!" Artemis agreed.

"Not to mention that we use P.W. Ghost weaponry when we're on mission!" Arthur added, "They're designed to never leave DNA on those weapons so that they won't trace back to us, for fucks sake!"

"I know." Skye said, pushing her long wavy brown hair back. "But we need to be safe. So we're going back home. Is that okay with you guys?"

"Obviously yes!" Matthew answered, "I mean, now the Dontellas and Mìngyùn after us, we are in grave danger. Do you remember what Lovecraft did to that innocent kid? His parents and friends were weeping for months! Do you want to be like him? Lying on the floor, eyes and mouth leaking puddles of blood, with no clue about who killed him."

"Also," Kenisha interrupted, "Those weird crimson particles' energy level are very similar too..."

"To whose?"

"To yours, Skye." Kenisha finished, showing Skye the report in her laptop. It shows that similarities are 95% and they most likely came from the same place. But it doesn't look like they came from earth because there are elements not found within the periodic table.

"How..."

"Maybe it's because of Scarlett Watcher?" Emilia suggested, "Since she's kind of... not... from here?"

"Yeah..." Skye agreed, " So is that the reason why you requested to borrow Testing Chamber 1?"

"Yes. We can try to use those particles and activate a portal to where the YouTubers are." Artemis said. "We also need to be separated into two teams. One will be the rescue team and one will stay behind in the Hub and take care of the control panel."

"We can use the teaming when we went to destroy Mìngyùn's warehouse." Yannick suggested, "It's effective. But we need to call back Sweetheart."

Ah yes. Sweetheart, real name Mandy, had been staying with the McLoughlins for almost six months now. She had been using the undercover name Angelica and helped the boss of McLoughlins, Devin McLoughlin, take care of some Dontella monstrosity.

"Ah yes, we need to bring her back. I'm pretty sure she'll be willing to help save Pewds." Skye said with an evil grin, "Especially she adores our dear KING of YouTube, the LEGENDARY, Felix Kjellberg."

"I'll call Sweetheart." Andriena volunteered.

"Fs in the chat for Mandy." Klaudia said, "And I still want my can of G-Fuel back."

"No. Go buy your own."

...

The rest of the flight had been a delightful one. After the meeting everyone went to sleep in their own respective chairs and try to get some sleep before lunch, but woke up with cat whiskers and a moustache on almost everyone's face. Everyone had a good laugh and just started eating their lunch, but Skye ended up spitting her french fries out by the amount of hot sauce mixed in with the ketchup. Then she tried to eat the salmon but still ended up spitting it out as the salmon was as salty as the Dead Sea.

Without being able to eat her lunch, Skye went back to her seat with an empty stomach and tried to get some sleep again before her chronic headache and insomnia got the best of her again. But once she sat down, a loud beep rang and ice cold water poured down on her, making her wet from head to toe.

After drying herself up, she tried to lock herself in the bedroom for the sake of her own sanity and another bucket of ice water fell on her head, causing her to dry herself again.

"TO WHOEVER DID ALL THAT TO ME, FUCK YOU!" Skye screamed, looking frazzled, she stomped out of the bathroom back to where everyone is.

"*snort*Did you enjoy that sweet, sweet little shower?" Klaudia asked. Then she just fell apart and started laughing.

"Did you do it?" Skye questioned Klaudia.

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't." Klaudia answered with a wink.

Needless to say, Skye had her revenge by pranking Klaudia back as much as she could for the rest of the ride.

When they finally arrived at New York City, they hired two taxis again and dropped everyone at Think Coffee Flatiron and met up with Ezra, Larry and Mandy. Skye bought a 20oz iced red eye and quietly sip on it while watching the rest of her friends discussing which one is the best beverage.

"Shut up Ezra,obviously my matcha latte is so much better!" said Mandy, "Look at my latte, look at that vibrant, pistachio green colour. Obviously mine is better than yours and Jeff's cappuccino."

"Hold on a sec Mandy, you cannot say your matcha latte is better. You all cannot ignore our amazing hot tea." Emilia said, pointing at hers and Klaudia's cup of hot tea.

"But mine and Matthew's hot chocolate..." muttered Larry.

"I still think my espresso is the best, no offence." Arthur interrupted.

"Shut up and look at my americano." Yannick said, "And smell this sweet delicious brew. It. Is. Heavenly."

"Skye? You've been awfully quiet." said Arthur, with a little hint of worry."You ok?"

"Yeah. I'm just... tired, I guess?" Skye replied, taking off her glasses and rubbing her eyes.

"Well let's go. Do you want me to take you back home?" Mandy asked, "My car is parked just right outside."

"Yeah. We can discuss the portal tomorrow in the Hub." Nicole and Natalie said at the same time. Then they looked at each other and continued, "Hey! Stop copying me! Ugh!"

"Excuse me?" Jenny said. They knew all the employees already since they were regulars here. They promptly fell in love because it was quiet, it was clean, and they served some damn good coffee. They knew the place would likely be rampant with students from the nearby school Xavier High and flooded with people working a regular 9-to-5, but since most of the time they wouldn't be there, it looked like they were going to luck out when it came to beating the crowds. But hey, it was also fair trade coffee, something which they could definitely get behind. "It's 3pm already and we're closing, so..."

"Oh don't worry about that, we're about to leave." Artemis answered quickly.

"Okay then. Take your time." Jenny answered warmly, and walked back to the espresso machine.

"Let's just finish our drinks and let's go. Maybe we can hang out at Skye's place after buying some pastries in Two Little Red Hens? Then we can eat dinner, discuss the rescue mission tomorrow, and go back home?" Kenisha suggested.

"Good idea. I missed their Brooklyn Blackout cupcake. And I believe that you won't be able to sleep after drinking all 20oz of red eye." Yannick agreed.

They finished their drinks and Mandy, Ezra and Emilia drove them to Two Little Red Hens and bought a dozen of Brooklyn Blackout cupcakes. While they were buying the cupcakes, Larry decided it's a good idea to secretly buy a cherry cheesecake and key lime pie behind their backs and walk out of the shop with two large packages with the rest.

"Larry? What have you done?" Andriena asked.

"Yeah! What's that behind your back?" Artemis asked.

"Uh... a smoothie...?" Larry answered.

Not being able to take another slice o' bullshit, Artemis grabbed the first package while Andriena took the second and looked inside.

"Skye! Snorp bought a pie!" Andriena said.

"WHAT?" Skye exclaimed.

"And a cake!" Artemis added.

"Why?" Matthew asked, "We already bought a dozen cupcakes!"

"I'm still hungry!" Larry retorted, "The Snorp Species must eat and smut all in its vicinity!"

"Ugh."

"So... uh... let's just go back to Skye's place and try to eat all of them." Arthur said. "Snorp, if we die of eating too much, it's on you."

...

Skye's place was just like everything about Skye- far worth more than the rest of the team could ever imagine.

432 Park Avenue was already a famous enough place in Midtown Manhattan. It towered high above the majority of the scrapers in this part of the city, being the third tallest residential building in the world. Skye lived on the 96th floor penthouse, which boasted a view of the entire city at every angle, and it belonged entirely to herself ever since Emiliano died.

The walls were all either windows or white stone and the entire flat was polished and dripping with subtle wealth, a modern, minimalistic design to the floorspace and the furniture. The bedroom overlooked Central park, the bed itself facing the windows so the view was all you could see. The bed itself was simple, with down comforters and huge, fluffy pillows, looking like it felt like a cloud. The color scheme of the bedroom was soft gray and white and it felt so peaceful, with the lights twinkling outside and the low, artificial lighting from the chandelier above the bed.

"I still can't believe you live here alone after Mr Scott died." Arthur commented, putting the cupcakes on the dining table and looked out to the skyline. "And you treated him like your father."

"Because he treated me like his daughter." Skye said, "At least he adopted me after we came back here all those years ago."

"But you said he kidnapped you!" Natalie said.

"Technically he didn't kidnap me. His goons did." Skye poured everyone some water and gave the glasses to them. She then took out some plates and knives and started cutting the cake and the pie. "Emiliano thought I was pitiful, running away from home and wanting to change my destiny. And in the meantime he planned to adopt a child. He thought adoption can allow one to share their life with a child and enjoy the unique experience of parenthood, without the pains and annoyances of birthing one of your own. And he didn't want me to be living on the streets, so he ended up adopting me."

Everyone took their seats and ate the pastries quietly. It was a comfortable environment, but everyone still had an eerie feeling wavering around in their hearts. It was like... they knew the rescue mission tomorrow wouldn't go as planned. Skye could feel her heart beating very fast and her mind racing. She was afraid of losing her friends and be erased from existence. She had a quick glance at her friends quietly eating and she immediately went back to eating. She couldn't show her feelings to anyone. That's what she learnt through her training to become an assassin and all that bullying at school. She had to put on a poker face 24/7 so that she could protect herself without anyone knowing what she thinks.

It's tiring. It's sad. It's lonely. But she's safe. And her friends are safe. At least that's what she thinks how it is. But was it the truth? Is it even worth it?

"So... about the rescue mission tomorrow. We're dividing into two teams." Skye finally spoke up, eating up the last bit of pie on her plate and looked at the others. "I will be on the frontlines. Do you guys have any suggestions?"

"I'll be going with you....I'm your partner in crime, aren't I?" Arthur said with a little chuckle. Honestly, that chuckle seemed more like a nervous chuckle more than his regular comedic chuckle, but no one noticed.

"I'm good with tech things so I'm staying behind." Nicole said, "And I'm taking Natalie and Kenisha with me since they're also good at using the control panel."  
"I'm going to be on the front lines." Mathew said, "I want to kick some ass."

"I also want to kick some ass." Mandy added.

"I'll be behind the controls." Klaudia answered with a smirk.

"Us Tristars always stick together." Yannick said, "So we will be in the frontline."

"I will be in the frontline with Artemis." Andriena said.

"I'm good with sniper rifles so I'll be in the frontline." Emilia said.

"I think I'll stay with Sneeze." Ezra answered, "I'm good with combat and guns."

"I'm the same with Klaudia." Larry said, she then took a deep breath and continued. "I can also help with checking your health so that you medically won't be in danger."

"Great! Awesome! So Arthur, Jeff, Yannick, Matthew, Artemis, Andriena, Ezra, Emilia and Mandy will be on the frontlines." Skye confirmed, "And Nicole, Natalie, Kenisha and Larry will be doing the controls right?"

"Right."

"Yup."

"Nothing wrong."

"And according to my calculations, the portal will only be open for three days. Or else the Hub won't have enough power." Kenisha said.

"And I added a device that looks like the Plague Writes crest on your clothes. Once you press it, teleports everyone back." Natalie added, "But it can only be used once."

"So we either come back with the YouTubers, or stay there forever and die?" Artemis asked worriedly, "It's a gamble."

"Basically, yup." Skye answered. she stood up and continued, "It's all or nothing."

...

The team left Skye's place a while later leaving her alone. She sat on the windowsill daydreaming and by the time she looked at the clock again, it's almost 8pm. She forced herself to get up and make beet and shrimp winter salad. She wasn't like that during previous missions. She was supposed to be energetic and optimistic. But now she was just filled with grim and worry. The flat was filled with misfortune and it's just creepy af now. She didn't know why she was like that. Maybe pressure got the best of her again.

Skye collapsed on the marble kitchen floor. Her breath got shorter and shorter, she started to tremble and her muscles tensed. She felt dizzy, and her heartbeat raced.

" _What's this thing that keeps happening to me yet again?_ " Skye thought. She crawled on the floor into her bedroom where her meds were. When she reached the door, her limbs gave out and she laid on the floor, facing the ceiling and unable to get back up. She continued to lie there, attempting to calm herself down so she could recover as soon as possible.

She then felt her arm tingle. Skye lifted her left arm, and saw a black substance covering her entire arm.

" _The fuck..._?" Skye thought to herself, standing up and going into the bathroom to wash them away, completely forgetting about the medications. She was so confused. Why the fuck would there be any black substances on the floor? She cleaned the flat all by herself and she was sure that substance was not ink like the ones in Bendy and the Ink Machine. Nor was that petrol. If it wasn't the above, then what the fuck was that?

Skye left the black substance at the back of her mind and focused on eating the salad. She could feel herself safe in her home, but... it somehow felt like a weird mysterious spirit or something incomprehensible watching her, following her. She looked at her back, and saw no one. Weird...

Skye could feel it again. She ran to the library as fast as she could, locked the door, and picked up the iPad and checked the security cameras.

"What the fuck?" Skye murmured. She rewinded the footage back for thirty minutes back to when she was lying on the floor. What the video showed was the black substance randomly coming out of her fingertips, then covering her arms like a snake, but liquefied. "How the fuck did..." But she was too tired, so she decided to take a quick shower, stop thinking about the issue and go to sleep.

Skye took a quick shower, took her makeup off, changed into her pajamas, and went to bed. But she tossed and turned, not able to fall asleep. Maybe she really shouldn't have drank all that 20oz of iced red eye. By the time she finally finally fell asleep it was 4am already.

...

Skye opened her eyes, and saw that she wasn't in her comfortable bed. She was standing in a ice blue off shoulder floor length tulle ruffles dress with a small train in some garden pavilion. It had a round dome with vines hanging. She followed the path and continued to discover the garden. She then saw the gate that left the garden. She pushed open the gate, left the garden, looked right and saw... herself?

No, this wasn't exactly herself. This was her evil self. She wore the same clothes, same hairstyle but a whole lot more evil and purple and with a pair of purple wings. Wait... Scarlett Watcher?

"You done staring at me yet, idiot?" Scarlett asked, "I'm starting to wonder if you're really dumb. You do realise you have wings right?"

Skye looked at her back and saw a pair of sky blue wings. They were translucent and looked like Markiplier's "moustache wing" from PewDiePie's Legend of the Brofist. "Oh."

"You're... pathetic." Scarlett spat, "You have come here to Sancosa for god knows how many times, and you still don't recognise this place."

Skye took a look at the surroundings once more, and finally said "Scarlett! What the hell?"

"Come on you doof!" Scarlett laughed, giving a pat at Skye's back, "Let's fly!"

They took off, flew across the mountain and landed in front of a manor. It looked like the one in Taylor Swift's Lover album single ME! featuring Brendon Urie. "Welcome back to Solanaceae Manor, Skye!"

"Thanks."

Skye took a step forward to push open the door, but suddenly, an invisible force pulled her back and her vision faded to black. When she had her vision back, she was in a completely different location. It was dark and it looked like an abandoned city. She felt her entire body in pain and her wings fading. Her clothes were torn and dirty. When Skye looked at her wrists, there were strings tied to them and she was bleeding heavily. Blood poured down her hand onto the floor and a voice sounded out of nowhere.

"This rescue mission is just the beginning Skylett."

"Wh... what are you talking about?" Skye asked weakly.

"It's time to take a look at the results of defying fate, my little pet. Time to face the consequences my little marionette. It's time to wake up."  
"AHHHHH!"

Skye woke up screaming, she picked up her phone from the nightstand and looked at the time, and it's...

"5AM?" Skye exclaimed, looking at the phone with disbelief, "What the fuck I had another nightmare again! AND THE NIGHT RIGHT BEFORE THE RESCUE MISSION? UGH!"  
She got off the bed, walked into the closet and changed into a black shirt, skinny jeans and a choker necklace and the locket her real parents gave her with her signature hooded leather jacket and combat boots, and looked into the mirror. She looked like shit. Bags were under her eyes and her weird kaleidoscope eyes lost it's shine. Her hair was like a bird nest and beads of sweat were forming on her forehead.

Skye forced herself to look away from the mirror, not wanting to see her face anymore, and started packing her backpack. Energy bars, water, flashlights, a drone that can build a tent with sleeping bags, fire starter, first aid kit... she then went to the library where she kept her safe and took her dagger. It wasn't just any normal dagger, it was the legendary Ego Dagger, which she took when she ran away from "home". Right before closing the safe, she glimpsed at her old wand, it's still the same as before, but she highly doubted she could cast any magic now. She took it out, gripped it tight, thought about her happiest memory and...

"Expecto patronum." Skye whispered softly.

A silvery dragon shot out of the wand and flew around the room. Skye was amazed by the hidden ability she still had, or once she thought she had lost. She tucked the wand in her jacket, wore a holster around her waist with a hidden Glock 19 and one with a dagger around her leg, picked up her backpack and left the room.

Skye's heart beated faster and faster. It was only 6:30am and she was already this tense. Her hands had started shaking and she sat on the sofa in the living room, contemplating her life. It's still very early so the Flatiron hadn't opened yet. She went to her DVD player, pushed a disc in and blasted the entire Taylor Swift Reputation album while doing stretches. By the time it's 7am already, she took her backpack and her bike, and left the penthouse. She's going to miss this place so much, especially those 2 years of living there with Emiliano, even though she was still very young during that period of time, but she knew who actually cared about her. Emiliano Scott was that kind of person who never showed any emotion, a kind of person that wears a poker face 24/7. But if you were someone that he truly cares about, then he would do anything to keep you safe and happy.

"Ugh... what am I doing?" Skye asked, face palming herself in the lift. It's still early so there were not many people in the lobby. She got on the bike, left the condominiums, turned left into Park Avenue, rode along the avenue then turned right into 6th Avenue and stopped at the Flairon.

"Good morning Skye!" greeted Jenny, snapping Skye from her daydream once she's inside the shop, "Coming here early again I see, nice cosplay I see."

"Top of the mornin' to ya and thanks!" Skye said, "Do you think it's badass enough?" She asked, that cosplay lies are as effective as always, fooling everyone into thinking the glock and the daggers were props and her entire outfit is just a cosplay.

"It's almost perfect." Jenny answered, "It's just your makeup is ruined a little bit."

"Thanks!" Skye thanked her with a small smile, "And can I have a 20oz iced red eye and a Farmhouse Smoked Turkey Sandwich again?"

"Okay no problem." Jenny said, "But you need to wait for a while since we're not open yet."

"Okay, have a magical day Jenny." Skye replied.

"You too."

Skye looked at the photos of her with Emiliano, there weren't many photos since he didn't like taking photos of himself, but when he did, they became an everlasting memory for Skye. Suddenly, the door opened and the rest of her teammates walked in, all dressed in black and looked completely badass. They ordered and paid for their breakfast, and sat next to Skye.

"Morning Skye." Mandy greeted. She's wearing a bulletproof vest underneath black shirt with black cargo pants. Her blonde hair tied into a ponytail and the tip of her hair was dyed into green with a little bit of pink. She also wore a holster around her waist and her thigh and it looks a bit... "Do you like my holster? I call it the Sexy Holster." She said with a wink.

"Hey! If you're really good at naming stuff, then why did you name my prop sniper rifle JAB?" Emilia questioned her, "It's fucking JUST A BARF! What did I do to have this happen on me you Swedish fucker."

"I..."

"Food's here!" Jenny announced, interrupting Mandy and putting their food on the table. "Enjoy your breakfast. And remember to be careful of your props. I'm so looking forward to your next cosplay." Jenny said cheerfully, skipping back behind the counter and continued making espresso.

"Well that was quick. It's only 8:05am." Jeff commented. "Well I'm hungry, so I'll just start eating." he then grabbed his cappuccino and Hummus Wrap.

"And if you don't mind, I'll start eating mine too." Larry said, already munching into his Mozzarella & Tomato sandwich. "As the legend says..."

"The Snorp Species must eat and smut all in its vicinity. We get that Snorp." Everyone interrupted him at the same time and ate their breakfast.

"Wow..." Larry said to himself.

...

"So are you guys ready?" Skye asked her teammates. They're standing in the Testing Chamber 1 with a weird looking machine in the middle and Nicole, Natalie, Kenisha, Klaudia and Larry standing behind the control panel.

"Control team is ready." Kenisha replied.

Nicole and Natalie walked up to them and handed the frontline team a sticker with the Plague Writes crest in the middle, a dragon circled by lily of the valley, and stuck it on their left shoulder. "Remember. It can be used once only. Stay safe guys." They said together.

"Remember, this is a one way ticket to hell if the portal closed. So we have to save all YouTubers in 72 hours." Skye announced, "Control team, open the portal. Zero Deaths Team, the Zero Deaths Rescue Mission is a go!"

The Frontline team closed their eyes, stepped through the portal not looking back and started their suicide mission.


	3. Welcome to the Underworld

The Frontline team felt a cold wind on their face and opened their eyes. They weren't in the testing chamber! Did that mean…

“Welcome to the Underworld! I guess?” Skye said nervously. The sky was in shades of crimson and orange and the earth was a deep brown colour with a weird texture. Something like a combination of slime and clay. She looked around and realised they were in a swamp. A very creepy, scary and disgusting swamp.

“Eyuck, what the shit?" Arthur muttered under his breath.

“Ew! Now my clothes are all ruined.” Andriena said in disgust and Artemis looked at her with disbelief.

“What the hell?” Artemis asked Andriena, “We’re on a mission and time is running out. And now you’re here saying your clothes were ruined? What the hell!”

“Sorry.”

“Guys we don’t have much time!” Yannick exclaimed, “Come on!”

They ventured into the swamp and not even five minutes later, they saw a very familiar figure being tied to a tree. He was wearing a MrBeast merch hoodie on and was gagged with a towel. They walked closer to him and recognised him.

“Oh my god MrBeast!” Emilia shouted, running towards him and untied him from the tree.

“Calm down Sneeze!” Ezra reminded her as they walked towards them.

“Thanks guys!” Jimmy said, “I’m…”

“MrBeast.” Mandy said, unable to stop herself.

“Sweetheart is definitely fangirling over him.” Arthur whispered to the rest.

“Yeah.” Matthew agreed.

Skye turned to Jimmy and asked, “Are you okay? Do you remember what happened when you got abducted?”

“Yeah I’m fine.” Jimmy replied with a smile, “I remember I smelled something funny and fainted. Then I woke up tied to a tree while Joel got carried away by something like shadow demons deeper into the swamp. Luckily it’s not really deep into the swamp so I can lead you there.”

“I’m sorry.” Yannick answered.

“Don’t be!” Jimmy said. He looked at Skye for a while and said, “Wait… I think I know who you are. Are you Skye? As in Skye Middleton? The adopted daughter of Emiliano Scott?”

“How did you know?” Skye asked, except the members of the rescue team, no one should know who she really is. “And please wear this earpiece.”

“Thanks.” He thanked her, wearing the earpiece and it connected to the Hub immediately. “So I was eating dinner one day with Maddie in Los Angeles during the start of VidCon somewhere near the convention centre and heard someone known as Don Dontella said something about Plague Writes and Emiliano Scott and his adopted child Skye.” Jimmy said, his face was pale like a piece of sheet. He took a deep breath and continued, “I also heard something about you becoming the boss of the Plague Writes and wanted to kill you. He also said that um… I’m not supposed to say this but uh… he said you’re fuckable and would be the perfect toy to ruin.”

The entire rescue team and control team laughed out loud causing Jimmy to wonder what happened. After a while, Skye finally answered, “Oh my goodness that Dontella boy must be a real great horn dog! And that explains the calling cards of Dontella and Mìngyùn! Fucking Don piece of shit.”

“So you’re…”

“By the way do you know where Joel is? I believe he is Smallishbeans right?” Jeff asked.

“Yes he is! I’ll lead the way.” Jimmy said. Walking into the swamp with all the teammates trailing behind him except Artemis and Andriena.

“Guys! Wait for us!” Andriena shouted, running towards them in order to catch up with the teammates.

“Do you know where the others were held captive?” Skye asked.

“Yes. Joel is in this very swamp. His wife, Lizzie, is in the… uh... Shadow Circus, I guess? Dan and Phil, Ian Hecox, Anthony Padilla and Joey Graceffa are in the Everlock Manor, which conveniently is right next to the circus. And I only overheard Jack, Mark, DanTDM, Marzia and Felix are trapped in a simulation of sorts? And there’s Minecraft? Five Nights at Freddy’s? The Contest? And Undertale? I’m really sure.”

“Thanks. We’ll look into it.”

“Of course the King and Queen of YouTube is here.” Artemis murmured.

“And seems like they abducted the best YouTubers.” Mandy analysed.

“Can you take us there?” Emilia asked.

“Of course! But only until…”

“JIMMY! YOU’RE HERE!” Joel shouted, shaking the stone cage that trapped him inside. His hands were bleeding from the sharp rocks of the cage, “And you brought help! Thank you guys!”

“Technically…” Jimmy tried to explain.

“Yeah! We’re here to help you!” Emilia interrupted, “Does this cage have a key to unlock the cage?”

“Sadly, no.” Joel replied, shaking his head in disappointment. “Those shadow demons took the key away and they said they’re going to the Shadow Circus.”

“Oh no…” Skye said, “I’ll call the Control team to analyse the material of the cage.”

“Control team?” Jimmy asked, “Do you know what is happening Joel?”

“I have no idea.” Joel said.

“Frontline calling Control. This is Grim Reaper calling Control.” Skye said into her earpiece, “Can you hear me?”

“ _This is Salazar Slytherin calling Grim Reaper._ ” Kenisha said into the microphone back in Testing Chamber 1, “ _We can hear you._ ”

“Awesome. Can you analyse the material of this cage? I’ll scan it and send it to you.”

“ _Okay, no problem._ ”

Skye replaced her glasses and put the original one in her backpack, then pressed the frame of the glasses and it started scanning the cage.

“ _I got it Reaper. It’s made of granite._ ” Kenisha said, “ _But it’s seriously weathered so it can easily be broken._ ”

“Got it.” Skye thanked, “Thanks Salazar.”

“ _No problem Reaper._ ” Kenisha replied, and she went offline.

“What did the Control team say?” Matthew asked, taking out bandages to wrap Jimmy’s shoulder and gave him a clean ZDT hoodie to wear.

“Salazar said the cage is made of granite.” Skye said. “Arthur? Try hitting the cage." Arthur proceeded to draw out one of his blades and hit the bars of the cage, which shattered under impact. “So it should break easily since it’s weathered.”

About fifteen minutes later, the crew were finally able to break a hole big enough for Joel to climb out and Jeff and Yannick immediately helped to support him.

“How did…” Joel murmured.

“I live in Hong Kong during normal days and I lived in New York City during long holidays like Christmas and Summer Holiday.” Skye explained, “And granite is a hard rock. But it can be easily weathered in hot and wet climates like this swamp.”

“As the climate in Hong Kong is hot and wet, granite in many places is deeply weathered, producing a thick layer of loose materials on slopes.” Jeff continued, “Sheer strength is small so landslides can happen easily there.”

“But since you’re wounded and have no tools, you’re not strong enough to break the cage.” Andriena explained.

“From your confused look I understand you don’t understand what that is supposed to mean.” Artemis said, “But we will explain once we get back home. And please wear the earpiece. Except going to sleep and taking a shower, NEVER take them off.” She finished.

“Okay, thanks” Joel said, wearing the earpiece hesitantly.

“Guys? Let’s get out of here.” Ezra said, “This place is getting scarier every second.”

“Good idea.” Jimmy said, “I don’t want to stay here anymore.”

“Can you walk?” Yannick asked Joel.

“Yes I can.” Joel assured him, “Don’t worry I’m okay.”

“Um… guys? I think I saw someone coming here.” Arthur informed.

“Frontline team leave that area immediately.” Larry shouted in everyone's earpiece, “There are two unknown charging right towards you.”

“Let’s go.” Skye ordered, “NOW!”

They ran out of the swamp, but stopped when they saw two people blocking their way. The taller one on the left was glowing a blue colour while the shorter one on the right was glitching uncontrollably and it’s eyes were glowing green.

“Look at who we have here Antisepticeye,” The taller one said.

“I wonder what we can do to them, Infelix.” Anti giggled.

“Oh.” Skye said with a smirk.

“Run! Go back!” Mandy screamed.

“Are you guys okay?” Larry asked.

“NO WE’RE NOT!” Emilia shouted into her earpiece.

“Oh no, not so fast.” Infelix said, teleported next to Joel and hovered his hand over Joel’s wounds, stopping the bleeding eased the pain a little bit.

“What is this sorcery?” Joel asked himself,”I must be dreaming.”

“Sadly no.” Infelix replied, healing his wounds as if nothing weird was happening.

“I never knew you guys are real.” Jimmy exclaimed.

“Actually they’re real.” Skye said. She went to give a friendly hug to Infelix and Anti and continued, “What’s up bros! How are you?”

“I’m having the best days of my life! Felix and the others were being tortured and we’re having so much fun!” Infelix said sarcastically.

“Ha ha very funny.” Anti said, rolling his eyes.

“Come on, let’s get out of here.” Infelix said, teleporting everyone out of the swamp. The sky was getting darker and clouds were forming. “Oh no… we don’t have time to go somewhere near the circus.”

“ _Control team calling Frontline team._ ” Nicole and Natalie said together, “ _There is a huge storm coming, set up camp immediately and wait for the next information._ ”

“But we don’t have…” Infelix said.

“We brought tents.” Jeff interrupted.

“Do you think we’re safe to set up camp here?” Jimmy asked the alter egos.

“I think so.” Anti replied, still glitching uncontrollably, “Since we left Jack and Felix, we actually scouted the entire place and this place is safe.”

“Cool, thanks!” Skye thanked him, “Let’s set up camp here.” Everyone put their backpacks down, took out a drone, and the drones flew around for a second and a massive tent formed.

“How the fuck did you do that?” Infelix asked, “Do you have an alter ego?” He asked Skye.

“Not one. Ten.” Arthur said, walking into the tent with the rest of her teammates. Infelix and Anti walked into the tent, and found themselves in a treehouse instead of a tent.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Skye asked, “Follow me.”

“Wow…” Joel sighed, admiring the treehouse from the ground.

“Follow the track and meet me at the end.” Skye ordered, “Arthur? Please lead the way.”

“Where are we going?” Jimmy asked, “You’re not going to kill us right?”

“Why would we kill you guys?” Andriena asked, “You’re literally my idol!”

“Wait, what?”

“Just keep walking.” Arthur ordered her.

“But…”

“I know, no.”

They walked along the path and ended up at the front of Solanaceae Manor, the two YouTubers looked shocked and the team opened the door wide.

“Welcome to Solanaceae Manor! Jimmy and Joel!” Scarlett said, flew down from the balcony with grace and stood next to Skye. “Come in!”

Everyone piled into the entrance hall and looked amazed by the vintage yet modern exterior and interior except Skye, Scarlett, Infelix and Anti. It has a large crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling and a staircase leading to different parts of the mansion upstairs and two doors leading elsewhere. It also had a fountain surrounding the white walls of the hall, made out of different crystals and lights at the bottom. It also has tables and chairs on both sides of the hall and a pot of bouquet on each table.

“You live here? Why don't you guys look amazed?” Joel asked.

“No. My alter egos live here.” Skye answered calmly, “Where is Shawna?”

“I’m here!” Shawna shouted from the top of the staircase, she ran down, gave everyone a bow and continued, “Hi! My name is Shawna McLoughlin and I’m the housekeeper here. Nice to meet you guys again!”

“Again?” Jimmy asked.

“We actually came here a few times before during other missions.” Matthew answered.

“Oh.”

“Follow me, I’ll lead y’all to your room.” Shawna said, and the team and the alter egos left the room. Leaving the two YouTubers behind with Skye.

“Thank you for letting us stay here for the night. But we still don’t trust you fully yet Reaper.” Joel said.

“I know.” Skye sighed, “I’ll explain once we’re safe back in New York City first. Everything is getting worse here and we don’t know who we’re dealing with or what will happen next. You also might need to remain hidden for god knows how long so that you won’t get hurt or die.”

“Why do we need to trust you?” Jimmy asked, the hall got ten times colder and Skye slammed the door shut. “You and your teammates might just be here to kill us.”

“We won’t hurt you because we swore before.” Skye answered. “Any Plague Writes members who swore and become the inner circle must sign a contract or risk death and saving someone is in the contract.”

Jimmy’s face paled again while Joel was still confused. But just before Joel was able to ask another question, Shawna came down the stairs and said, “There you are. They need to rest Skye, let them take a rest and Felicia will heal their wounds later.”

“Jimmy, Joel, please follow Shawna and go back to your room.” Skye requested, “Try to get some sleep before dinner.”

They left the entrance hall and Skye was left alone again, but the door was opened again and Skye’s second alter ego, Zeta Finvarra, walked in and asked “How’s today’s mission?”

“Found MrBeast and Smallishbeans. Might be able to find LDShadowLady and a few more tomorrow.” Skye answered, “How’s your day Zeta?”

“The show went pretty well.” Zeta answered, taking her top hat off and vanishing it, “But someone in the townsquare said it’s inappropriate for me to be the ringmaster and magician at the same time. It’s really frustrating.”

“I’m sorry Zeta.”

“Don’t be.” She answered, “Go to sleep. We’ll catch up during dinner.” Zeta finished and ran upstairs.

Skye opened the door and went outside, spread her wings and flew to her bedroom located on the second top floor of the mansion. She landed on the balcony, went into her room, and slammed the door shut. She took off her backpack, and collapsed on the floor again.

It felt wrong going there. Something ominous seemed to follow her. Tracing her every step, spying on her. Maybe it was Skye’s assassin instinct, but she didn’t see Arthur feel anything. He acted and looked like he generally thought it was a more dangerous mission. Because if his assassin instincts also made him feel that way, he would have told Skye immediately.

Skye took a bath and changed into a comfortable oversized hoodie that could cover her thighs and passed out on her bed. She thought about skipping dinner and breakfast and going to complete her mission, but it would be bad for her health and she will not have enough energy. Just before she’s able to fall asleep, a loud boom from the room below woke her up, causing her to roll off the bed and hit her elbow.

“Ouch.” Skye groaned, “What the fuck is wrong with Zeta and Delta? Ugh!”

“Knock, knock.” Delta said while simultaneously opening Skye’s door. “Did you have a good sleep?”

“What the fuck were you doing with Zeta?” Skye asked, standing up and changed into a light knee length shirt dress, “You’re a hacker, not a fucking bomb expert or whatever the fuck that is.”

“I didn’t do that! Zeta is the one who did that!” Delta gasped, “Don’t blame me!”

“Ugh… when will dinner start?” Skye asked.

“In 3 minutes.”

“I’ll be down there later. Can you help me tell the rest of the egos we have guests?”

“Okay, no problem.”

“Thanks bro!”

…

Overall the dinner caused a massive confusion. When every Reaperegos (Andriena helped Skye to think of this name. It made Artemis roll her eyes to the back of her skull everytime.) took their place at the dining table, Jimmy and Joel seemed to start questioning their sanity as every ego looked almost the same with Skye except their clothes and hairstyle. For example, Anastasia Brooks, an actress, and Dr Felicia Castillo, a doctor, look extremely similar. Anastasia had a flapper hairstyle with streaks of blue hair while Dr Felicia had a loose braided updo with streaks of blue hair. This made the two YouTubers super confused and they kept calling them the wrong names, and the rest had a fun time laughing and teasing the fuck out of the YouTubers.

“Are you going to tell them what’s happening?” Scarlett asked Skye quietly, not wanting Jimmy and Joel to hear their conversation. “With the Plague Writes and McLoughlins VS Dontella, Mìngyùn rival bullshit going on, they will be in fucking danger.”

“I know.” Skye replied, “But I can’t let them know right now. I can’t let them get distracted from rescuing their friends first.”

“Okay then.” Scarlett nodded and resumed eating her dinner, “But since this mission is way too dangerous and your powers are not mastered yet, I’m coming along.”

“Wait what? No…”

“I’m planning to call Darkiplier to join us.” Infelix suddenly announced, interrupting Skye’s and Scarlett’s conversation and scaring the shit out of everyone. “Anti and I have discussed just now for a while and we planned to add him to your… or OUR frontline team. He has been scouting in Everlock Manor and Shadow Circus since we escaped and he can help us to save them.”

“Good idea, we do need more information about that ridiculously annoying place or weird sorts of dimension.” Skye agreed. “But can we discuss this in the conference room later?”

“Sure.” Infelix agreed, “But I want a bottle of whiskey.”

“And some batteries and cables.” Anti interrupted, licking his lips and glitching in excitement. “Please put them on a plate or bowl. Or a paper bag!”

“Um… okay?” Skye replied, unsure of what the glitch is going to do with them. “Please don’t tell me you’re going to use them to kill us.”

“Don’t worry.” Anti said with a wink, “I will not kill you guys. You’re too precious to get damaged.” He continued, earning a bunch of weird looks from the Frontline team.

“Meeting ten Skyes was weird as fuck.” Andriena commented, “But that comment just topped them all.”

“Why don’t we go to the conference room now since we all finished our dinner?” Skye interrupted, “And Delta could you bring some… batteries and cables… or wires? To the conference room?”

“Okay.” The hacker said, opening a hologram screen in front of her and started tapping, “But I don’t think I will join the meeting. I'm gonna upgrade the security so some certain glitch fucker can’t mess up everything.” Delta said, stood up and walked back to her office and left bits of burn marks on the floor and wall.

“Was she talking about me?” Anti asked with a prout.

“No, bimbo.” Anastasia answered, fixing her rose gold flapper dress and left the table, “Delta is talking about the Dontellas and Mìngyùns. And I will be taking Harley and Shawna with me so they won’t be present in the meeting.”

“I’ll take some of my notes back in the asylum.” Harley said softly, “I don’t want to freak out our guests if I have another outburst.”

“Asylum?” Jimmy asked, “Skye, what the hell?”

“She is a psychopath.” Nicole and Natalie replied using the earpiece.

“A PSYCHOPATH?” Joel screamed, “I’m so sorry Harley…”

“That’s fine. I’ll be on my way.” Harley whispered, following Anastasia and Shawna to their art studio.

“I’ll go clean the dishes.” Chef Reaper said, making all plates and tableware float into the kitchen. “Have fun guys! And Scarlett please don’t put ketchup on Skye’s chair.”

“You ruined my prank!” Scarlett groaned, leaving the table and stomping out of the dining room and up the stairs. “GIVE YOURSELF A FUCK, YOU BITCH!” She screamed, “I HATE YOU!”

“Aww that’s sweet.” The superhero, Shadow Glitcher, said while the rest laughed their ass off. “See you guys in the conference room.” She said with a wink and teleported there.

“Is everyone ready?” Arthur asked, wiping his tears away from the laughter.

“Yeah.” Jeff answered, he looked at his right and asked, “And where’s Galaxia? I thought she was still sitting next to me.”

“She must have teleported back to the observatory or the underground laboratory.” Artemis pointed out, “Wait… Skye! Why didn't you tell us that Galaxia learned how to teleport? Who taught her that?”

“I SWEAR TO GOD I DON’T KNOW TOO!” Skye said, putting both of her hands up in the air, “I just know too!”

“Actually I taught her how to do it.” Glitcher said, appearing out of nowhere. “The astrophysicist asked me to teach her teleportation and telekinesis. So I taught her while Skye's gone.” She explained, readjusting her blue and silver mask and a black version of Daniel Howell’s horn hoodie. “I taught her those because imagine walking up the stairs many times per day from the basement laboratory to the observatory. It’s tiring as fuck.”

“Okay then.” Skye said, “I’ll go to the observatory and Scarlett and Zeta will lead the rest to the conference room.” She continued, “By the way, Felicia, do you mind taking some medical supplies there too? I think Jimmy and Joel need their wounds treated.”

“No problem.” Felicia replied and ran to the fourth floor medical wing to take the supplies while Glitcher said “I’ll go find Delta and take those cables and batteries Anti asked for.”

“Thanks mate.” Anti shouted, following Scarlett and Zeta and the rest to the fifth floor conference room.

Skye stood up from her seat, left the mansion and walked into the winter garden of the Solanaceae Manor. She strolled along the path filled with pine trees and cornflower, and found Galaxia sitting in the middle of the large frozen pond and looking at the sky.

“I thought you were discussing with your teammates in the conference room.” Galaxia the astrophysicist broke the silence, her long wavy blue and purple hair setted on her shoulders and her lab coat laid next to her, “I’m surprised you’re here.”

“And I’m surprised you’re sitting here in the middle of the pond, looking at the cloudy sky instead of working in the observatory since there’s a storm outside, Dr. Cassini.” Skye said calmly, “You usually work nonstop if there’s a storm or whatever is happening outside.”

“That storm in the Underworld is manmade.” Galaxia explained, “The instruments I have won’t work. It will be gone by midnight.”

“Thank you Galaxia.” Skye thanked, “Do you want to join us? We could use some of your advice. You’re literally the smartest among all of us.”

“Okay then.” Galaxia replied, “But can you promise me to never overwork yourself?”

“No promises, doctor.”

“Skye, you have to listen to me.” Galaxia exclaimed, turning to her and grabbing her arms, “I asked Felicia what the cause of your headache was, and she said it’s because of stress! You need to calm down and stop overloading yourself with work! Did you stay up all night working again?”

“What? No!”

“Good.” Galaxia said, standing up and gave Skye her hand, “Let me teleport us there. It’s a long way back.”

Skye took her hand and they teleported to the conference room, crashing on the floor causing everyone to stop their discussion and looked at them.

“I really need to practise more.” Galaxia murmured, looking at Skye and saw Darkiplier sitting on the floor next to Galaxia. “Oh… hey Dark.”

“Good evening.” Dark greeted, causing Galaxia to blush slightly.

“Um… what were you guys talking about?” Skye asked, lifting Galaxia up and sat at the head of the table.

“Joel said there'll be a circus performance in the afternoon and a masquerade ball in the evening.” Matthew said, “And no one knows how to connect the tablet to the testing chamber.”

“I’ll do it.” Galaxia offered, she picked up the tablet, pressed a few buttons, and connected to the Hub, facetiming the Control team.

“What’s up bros!” Kenisha greeted, “How are you Jimmy and Joel.”

“We’re okay.” Jimmy replied, “Currently Dr. Castillo is helping us to take care of our wounds.”

“Bruh… I never knew Infelix and Anti are real.” Klaudia wowed.

“Now you know.” Anti giggled, glitching slightly, then continued to munch on cables and batteries, causing the discomfort of several people in the room.

“Erm… why are you munching on batteries?” Mandy asked.

“They’re delicious!” Anti shouted, popping another battery into his mouth and chewing on it loudly. “And…”

“Incase no one introduced who we are, my name is Larry and the twins are Nicole and Natalie.” Larry interrupted, “Nicole is the bigger one and the Polish girl sitting next to Kenisha is Klaudia.” She continued, “At the head of the table is Skye, our leader, and her, uh, "partner in crime" and possible potential boyfriend ("Godammit Larry!") Arthur. The ones sitting next to Arthur are Jeff, Yannick and Matthew. While the ones sitting next Skye are Artemis, Andriena, Emilia, Mandy and Ezra. Pretty easy to distinguish right? Girls on one side and the boys on the other.”

“And I assume you know who the egos are so I’ll save the time talking about something more important.” Natalie said, “According to what Jimmy said, Lizzie is held in the Shadow Circus which, conveniently, will have an exclusive show tomorrow afternoon. I believe Jimmy can lead the way, right?”

“Correct.”

“But, they have a dress code.” Joel said, “So we cannot wear the same thing there. The same also applies to the masquerade ball.”

“So we need to wear those tight, uncomfortable costumes and blend in.” Ezra groaned, “I hate them.”

“But we don’t have a choice.” Jeff said, “But at least Skye and Yannick will be okay. They always wear them.”

“I don’t wear evening gowns all the time.” Skye commented.

“So what is the dress code?” Andriena asked.

“The dress code for the circus is 1920s formal.” Joel said, “And for the masquerade ball is… well… whatever the heck you’re wearing to something like prom. But more formal, fancier, and with a mask.”

“Did I mention it’s not a normal masquerade ball?” Jimmy asked.

“No.” everyone replied.

“They’re holding a masquerade ball because they’re about to eat Dan and Phil, Ian, Anthony and Joey.” Jimmy said.

“WHAT?” Andriena gasped, but was being muffled by Antemis’s hand.

"Excuse me what the fuck." Arthur said.

“What are they? Vampires?” Klaudia asked.

“Sadly they are.”

“Shit.” Emilia said.

“Holy shit indeed.” Mandy agreed.

“We’ll try to locate where they are.” Kenisha said, “But in order to do that, you guys need to get into Everlock Manor.”

“Thanks guys. Go get some rest.” Skye said. “We will do the rest here.”

“Good night guys.” Kenisha said, and the call ended.

“So where will we find those clothes and weapons?” Joel asked.

“Don’t worry. The Reaperegos are so much more than you know.” Skye replied with a mysterious wink. “Galaxia, Glitcher, Felicia? Do you mind preparing in your room?”

“No problem bro.” The three Reaperegos said collectively with a smirk, and teleported out of the room.

“Now, please follow me. We have four egos to visit first.”

…

“What brings you guys here?” Anastasia asked, opening the door and letting everyone into the art studio. It is on the ground floor with a glass door leading towards the autumn part of the garden. The entire art studio was like a greenhouse, with the ceiling and walls made out of glass, lamps, potted plants and baskets hanging from above. Cabinets, closets, racks and tables were pushed to one side while other miscellaneous on the other side of the wall. Making the studio more spacious. “I thought you guys were busy about your mission.”

“And we still are.” Skye said, “We might need two different kinds of clothing for everyone.”

“Which kind?” Shawna asked, picking out a wine red dress and putting it on the table.

“The first one's Roaring 20s formal and the other's for a masquerade ball.” Arthur replied.

“I think I have the perfect costume for you guys.” Harley whispered, walking towards the clothing rack and picked out some clothes.

“Wait, stop.” Dark said, talking towards Harley and fixing her straight jacket.

“Oh thanks.” Harley thanked him.

“You’re welcome Ms Megane.”

“By the way, can you change the clothes for a bit so me and Anti can carry our Ego Daggers?” Infelix asked.

“Wait… you have two of the Ego Daggers?” Skye asked.

“Yes.” Anti replied, taking out his dagger and gave it to Skye.

“The Ego Dagger,” Infelix said as he admired the dagger in Skye’s hands. It had an emerald and snake carvings on the obsidian handle, “I have a bigger one in my pants.” He continued with a wink.

Anti replied as he looked at Infelix’s pants, “I have the same one but of course it is not as big as yours.”

“What the fuck?” Skye spat, staring at the alter egos with disbelief, “Seriously, are you trying to turn Infelix on?”

“No?” Anti answered while he patted Infelix’s back, “Okay, maybe yes? Really, if he did, I gonna fuck his life up so damn bad.”

“Oh really, I remember last time the situation is in reverse and you’re begging me…” Infelix said.

“Guys! Stop it!” Jimmy interrupted them, “If you agree with me that Anti is trying to turn Infelix on, the sky will thunder once!” He shouted.

**BAM!**

“The sky will thunder twice if Infelix and Anti are secretly in love with each other.” Skye murmured.

**BAM! BAM!**

“If Infelix and Anti will show us their Ego Dagger, then the sky will thunder thrice!” Andriena shouted.

**BAM! BAM! BAM!**

“Bro. Thrice? Seriously? The sky will thunder four times if Andriena needs to learn proper English.” Artemis said.

**BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!**

“Hmm… I’m pretty sure this place is cursed.” Anti giggled, giving Infelix small kisses on his neck.

“Bro. For real? Are you done yet?” Infelix ansked Anti, “We’re just friends.”

“Only friends?”

“Oh… OH! FRIENDZONE!” Arthur taunted.

“Okay! We’re best friends.” Infelix huffed.

“I thought we’re something more.”

“For fuck’s sake! We’re best friends with benefits! Okay? Jeez!” Infelix screamed, his blue aura becoming clearer and Anti glitched even more with excitement.

“Yay!” Anti said excitedly, clapping his hands and hugged Infelix. But everyone saw sadness in both of their eyes, tears threatened to fall and it’s almost like two lovers heartbroken.

“So… why don’t we do the fitting?” Anastasia broke the silence. Everyone went back to their normal state and followed Anastasia’s orders. “Boys on the left and follow Shawna. Girls on the right and follow Harley. I’ll take the accessories here once you change into your costumes.”

“Please follow me.” Harley whispered, leading the girls into a secluded section of the greenhouse. “So we will try the Roaring 20s costume first. It might be uncomfortable but you’ll get used to it later.” Harley continued, giving different flapper dresses and suits to the girls. “Please try not to rip them. We don’t have enough time to mend them.”

“We promise.” Ezra promised, changing into a Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them inspired suit behind a curtain.

“Why the fuck my dress is so damn tight?” Andriena asked, struggling to wear her rose gold veronique fringe flapper dress.

“Ugh. Let me help you.” Artemis said, slipping into Andriena’s curtain and helping her.

“Thanks Artemis.” They slipped out of the curtain and found the rest of the girls already finished changing into their costumes. “What?”

“You two look like a good o’ married couple.” Harley giggled softly, tugging the straps of her straight jacket.

“Calm down Harley.” Mandy reminded her softly and Harley immediately stopped, “And yes. You two look married.” She finished, causing Artemis and Andriena blushing hardly, their cheeks red from embarrassment.

“Come on guys,” Skye said with a wink, “Let’s go out to try out the accessories and let the couple have some alone time.” And by that, everyone rushed out of the secluded section back into the main area laughing their asses off.

“What do you think of your costumes?” Anastasia asked everyone, “I know you guys always move, especially Skye and Arthur. So your costumes will not be as tight as the others.”

Skye and Arthur looked at each other, Skye wore a simple black fringed flapper dress with black heels while Arthur wore a simple black suit.

“Lookin’ good Reaper.” Arthur said.

“Thanks.” Skye answered, “You too.”

“Love never dies… Love will continue… Heart keeps on beating… When you’re gone…” Emilia sang softly.

“EMILIA SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Skye and Arthur turned their heads and spat at Emilia.

“Why don’t you go and change into your masquerade costumes first?” Shawna asked, effectively shutting them up.

“Fine.” Skye said, taking a random dress from the clothing rack and went to change.

“How did she…” Jimmy asked.

“She actually designed and made that dress by herself.” Anastasia explained, “And she told us she didn’t want anyone to wear that, so Skye took it without thinking. And here’s yours Arthur.” She handed him a navy blue English cut suit jacket with a wide peak collar with a length nearly reaching his knees over a black, silk dress shirt with a tab collar underneath, an ornate silver and black embroidered vest atop that. The slacks were the same navy blue as the jacket and the entire outfit was tailored to Arthur on a smart and professional level.

“How did she get my measurements correct?” Arthur asked, looking at the dress shoes and the costume. “That’s creepy as fuck… and sweet?” He murmured the last part to himself, not believing what he just said.

“Shawna and Harley will give you your costumes in the sectioned area.” Anastasia said, continuing to stare at Arthur, “But we don’t have the ones for Infelix, Anti and Dark.”

“That’s fine.” Dark replied, “We already have our own costumes.”

“Awesome!” Anastasia said, turning her head back to Arthur and found him still staring at his costume. “Retard? Why didn't you try that on?”

“I… sorry.” Arthur muttered, scurried into the sectioned area leaving Dark and Anastasia alone.

“Do you think…”

“Yes.” Anastasia replied, answering Dark’s incomplete question with a smile. “I think he is.”


	4. Enjoy The Show

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to leave a comment below of how you feel and what I can improve! :)

“Do you like it?” Skye asked Arthur, scratching her neck nervously, “If you don’t like it you don’t have to wear it.” Skye said quickly with her hands forward, “You can always wear the ones Anastasia and Shawna picked.”

“It’s okay, I like it.” Arthur replied, “But when did you make this dress?” He asked, pointing at the A-line navy blue off shoulder floor length tulle masquerade ball gown with a slit up her thigh, with a silver lily of the valley belt and a pair of navy blue suede heels with silver vines. “I thought you didn't have time to rest.”

“Did you forget I come here when I sleep?” Skye asked back.

“Oh.” Arthur said, “But we don’t have a proper mask.”

“I made a custom one already.” Skye answered, handing him an elegant and delicate mask. It covered the left side of the face and crossed over the bridge of the nose to envelope and encase the other eye, flaring up the temple to burst out in the shape of half a rose. The mask itself was black and painted with delicate, silver lines, painstakingly hand-painted depictions of lilies of the valley and vines following the curves of the mask and the face beneath it.

“Wow…” Arthur wowed, putting the mask on and looked at the mirror. It made him look professional but it also made him feel a bit uneasy in the suit. He wanted to tell Skye how he felt but he decided to won’t so that he will not break her heart like what their classmates did before. "To be honest, I was gonna use that Guy Fawkes mask, but this is better."

“You all look amazing.” Shawna said, “And now the fun part! Accessories!”

Everyone shuffled to the long table full of accessories and masks for everyone to choose. Being overdramatic, Infelix, Anti and Dark wanted to wear a massive Guy Fawkes mask just for the sake of jokes and memes and all got punched in the gut by Ezra. Artemis and Andriena chose a steampunk cat mask to match and Yannick and Jeff choose a gold Roman gladiator themed half face mask. Joel took an olive green mask and Jimmy took a blue mask to match their brandings.

“Imma take this.” Mandy said, taking two green and gold masks with green feathers on both sides and handed one to Emilia. They decided to match and wore a floor length green and gold floral ball gown with mid-length sleeves and small ruffles around the waist.

“I thought we came to an agreement that I would not wear dresses ever again.” Emilia complained, “I hate it. I hate gender roles. I want to wear a suit like the boys.”

“Same here ugh.” Ezra groaned. “Look at me. I’m ridiculous in this dress. I’m sorry Anastasia and Harley for making your beautiful creations go to waste.”

“You should be grateful that you’re going with me.” Dark said, his face inches away from Ezra’s, “And I’m really hurt by your comment.” Dark continued, he then recompose his posture and continued, “But I’m really glad you listened and took my idea into consideration by wearing this dress.” He pointed at her blood red high neck bell-sleeve floor length ball dress paired with black suede pumps. “You actually look gorgeous in this.”

“Thank you.”

“All we need to do is to fix your hair a bit and pair you with these earrings.” Dark said, taking a pair of gothic ruby earrings and helping Ezra to wear them. “Now you look perfect.”

“If I remember correctly this watch can shoot needles right?” Yannick asked Anastasia, showing the watch he took to the ego.

“Ah, yes it can.” Anastasia replied, “Delta, Shadow Glitcher and Dr. Cassini designed it themselves. It’s actually quite useful. It also can be used as a needle bomb. Just don’t push the button on the top.”

“Cool! Then I’ll take one too.” Matthew said, taking one from the table.

“Skye? Where is your mask?” Andriena asked, "I thought you had one."

"I put it in my room." Skye answered, "Don't worry. Is everyone ready?”

“Yes.”

“Awesome!” Skye exclaimed, “Thank you for helping us guys.”

“No problem Skye.” Anastasia, Shawna and Harley answered.

“Come on let’s go.” Skye said, opening the door leading out of the greenhouse. “We still have three more people to visit.”

Everyone followed Skye to the East Wing and down a staircase into the basement corridor. It has white walls and grey floor and has a metal door at the end. Skye typed the password and scanned her eyes and the door opened, leading into a massive laboratory. Skye opened another metal door to the elevator and they went down one more level into another laboratory but with a testing chamber on the right. Everything was extremely (and unnecessarily) white and weapons were hanging off the walls.

“What’s up guys! Welcome to the armory of the laboratory!” Shadow Glitcher greeted, with a midnight gun from Agents of SHIELD in her hand. “Delta is here too! This is gonna be fun!”

Delta walked next to Glitcher and greeted, “I don’t think I have introduced myself properly. My name is Delta. I am the hacker android ego sent by CyberLife. And I refuse to take any orders from Shadow Glitcher because she sucks and her orders are either take the rubbish out, do the dishes, or bring her coffee.” Delta said, “Now would you excuse me, I would like to drink a cup of Thirium.” She finished, walking away into the pantry.

“And please bring me a cup of coffee!” Glitcher shouted at her.

“No!” Delta turned back to us and shouted back, her LED light on her right temple turning from blue to yellow, “Go give yourself a fuck!” And walked away.

“Why does she dress like Connor from Detroit: Become Human?” Joel asked, looking around the laboratory with great interest.

Jimmy looked at Delta more carefully and gasped, “Oh yeah you’re right! She has Connor’s RK800 suit on and has a LED light.”

“I thought it’s cool to have her look like something from Detroit: Become Human. The costume design is so good and I think Delta will look amazing in it and here we are!” Skye said, wiggling her fingers. “So. What do we have here Scarlett?” Walking towards the table and taking a smoke bomb.

“That’s a smoke bomb dumbass.” Scarlett replied sarcastically.

“Oof.” Infelix, Anti, Arthur, Matthew and Andriena said at the same time.

“Shut up.”

“And here’s a tracker. I intentionally designed it to look like a ring so no one will know.” Delta explained, showing everyone the ring tracker while sipping on thirium.

“And the lipstick is a taser. Press the small dragon carving here and the taser will show.” Scarlett demonstrated, pressing the dragon carving and the lipstick turned into a taser. She pressed the carving again and it turned back into a lipstick.

“So… how do we conceal a gun?” Joel asked.

Well, the problem is you can’t use a gun.” Felicia said.

“Bitch what?” Emilia asked.

"Why though?" Jeff asked

"Pardon me, what in the sexual intercourse?"

“THE COSTUMES YOU WILL BE WEARING IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH TO HIDE A FUCKING GUN!” Scarlett shouted, “So you will be using miniature self defence weapons and daggers.”

“Good.” Arthur murmured to himself, pacing around the laboratory. “I'm more used to daggers and swords than guns.”

“No, not good.” Mandy disagreed.

“That’s why I told you to practice using a knife more.” Emilia said.

“How about you all shut up, and pick a weapon?” Dark asked with a bored face.

“Let’s just… get on with it.” Skye said, walking to the table and picked up a Scottish dirk, “I think I will take this, and I will take my Ego Dagger too.”

“You’re not afraid to lose it?” Jimmy asked, “Or break it? It looks old and it seems like it’s about to break.”

Skye shook her head slowly and answered, “It’s not a normal dagger Jimmy. It has magic in it. VERY powerful magic.”

“I’m not so sure Skye…” Matthew said, “It looks like it’s made out of some crappy metal.”

Skye sighed and said, ”Look. I know you guys don’t give a shit about magic and myths, but you guys need to listen to me. The Ego Dagger is one of the most powerful mythical weapons in the world. It also can kill everything. From mortals, to immortals. Dead or alive.”

“Let’s go to the Hall of Mystics.” Scarlett interrupted, “This is not a good place to discuss this matter.” She finished, teleporting everyone to the Hall of Mystics, located on the eighteenth floor of the mansion in the middle of the library. It is a dimly lit hall with a large wooden round table with round dark blue velvet seat cushions around it. There were books, candles, tarot cards, crystal balls, artifacts and other miscellaneous scattered everywhere and heavy dark blue and purple curtains draped from the ceiling to the floor, not letting any light enter the hall. “Everyone please take a seat.” Scarlett offered.

Everyone took their seats and stayed silent for a few minutes. Not a single word was heard, creating an uneasy environment for everyone. Until Dark broke the silence.

“Skye’s right. Ever since I existed, I knew about the legend of the Ego Daggers. Gods, demons, spirits, humans, everyone who knows about the Ego Daggers want it. They will do anything to get them. According to the legend, the Ego Dagger is alive. It has a soul. And it’s made by the same cyclops who made Zeus’s lightning bolt with the help of Hephaestus and ended up getting burned by the flames in the depths of Tartarus.” Infelix recalled from his memory, “It was also enchanted by the Greek gods. Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Hermes, Hestia, Dionysus and…”

“And who?” Andriena asked, looking at Infelix.

“Hades.” Scarlett answered, “Also known as Lucifer Hades Watcher.”

“Eldest son of Titans Kronus and Rhea.” Anti added, “The Greek God of Underworld.”

“Wait…” Artemis interrupted, looking up from the trench knife which she took earlier from the laboratory, “Who killed your parents Skye?”

“Lucifer Hades Watcher…” Skye whispered.

“And… where are we?” Ezra asked.

“Solanaceae, Sancosa.” Delta answered, the LED on her temple turned red and she frowned.

“No. I mean when we first went through the portal.”

“Underworld…” Jeff, Yannick and Matthew answered at the same time.

“This is not THE Underworld.” Galaxia interrupted, walking into the hall and took her seat next to Scarlett.

“I thought you were gonna try to sleep early Dr Cassini.” Scarlett commented.

“Nah.” Galaxia answered, “With what’s going on now, I can’t sleep.”

“By the way, why do you guys only say it? There are three Ego Daggers!” Andriena asked.

“First of all, there are five Ego Daggers. Second, Infelix owns the benitoite dagger, Anti owns the grandidierite dagger while I own the bixbite dagger.” Dark explained.

“And I own the sky-blue jeremejevite dagger.” Skye finished.

Every person looked dumbfounded, processing all the information they just received. Joel looked down at his fingers, murmured something and said, “I thought you said there were five?”

“Yeah. The last dagger. There’s… not much to say about that one.” Felicia said.

“It’s actually very weird talking about it.” Glitcher confessed, her normal hippy personality left without a trace and replaced with a very serious look.

“And not many people know if that Ego Dagger is even real or not.” Galaxia said with a shrug, leaning back onto the dark wooden floor and stared at the ceiling.

“No one knows where it is or what it even looks like.” Scarlett said. “There were theories about how the last Ego Dagger looks like or where it is. But all were false if you look deeper into it.”

“So… why did you want to find it.” Emilia asked.

“That dagger is too dangerous to even exist.” Skye answered, “It’s the most powerful dagger among the rest. Not only does it have the power to kill, it also has the power to bring people from the dead. And when all five Ego Daggers combined into one, it will turn into a sword and whoever possesses the sword will have ultimate power. It is the most powerful weapon in the world, even more powerful than Zeus’s lightning bolt. And a power that is far more greater than the Gods, even its own creators.”

“But possessing the sword came with a price.” Anti continued, “Not even I would dare to pay for the price by owning it.”

“Even it’s technically already paying the price by being able to find all Ego Daggers,” Infelix said, “But combining them is even worse.”

“What is the price?” Arthur asked, who finally broke his silence.

“A curse that no one can get rid of.” Skye answered. “Pain, insanity, your worst nightmare, an eternity of suffering...”

“Not even the three sisters of fate could help you.” Dark added.

"That's quite a heavy price." Arthur remarked.

“A soul for a soul.” Skye sighed, standing up from her seat and trudged towards the door, “A life for a life.” She looked back towards the crowd and continued, “Go to sleep everyone. We have a long day tomorrow. Goodnight bros.” And by that, she left the hall and stepped up the stairs to the nineteenth floor.

…

Skye entered her room, which ironically is the entire nineteenth floor, except the little corridor on the west wing that leads to the twenty first floor where everyone is prohibited. The sleeping area was sectioned off by a wall of glass and curtains in the front area of the mansion where Skye landed on the balcony earlier that day. In the middle was a sitting area with a platform consisting of a white coffee table surrounded by blue couches facing a massive television on the wall and a slide behind the couches that leads to the Reaperegos’ room on the fifthteenth to seventeenth floor.

In the early stages of building this manor, Scarlett decided it was an awesome idea to flood the entire floor since Skye had her bedroom Santorini themed and dripping with subtle wealth, a modern, minimalistic design to the floorspace and the furniture, so everything was lifted up by a platform. And being a prankster, Skye took the chance and scattered blue, white and grey petals on the “pools” and filled Scarlett’s sleeping area with sugar and flour. Causing Scarlett to wake up and get off her bed to be in two feet deep in flour and sugar everytime.

Skye stepped on the white tiles across the pool to her front into the closet located on the right wing. She changed into her thigh high sky blue silk nightgown and sat on the couch, the headache seemed to never leave her head and she started to scream in pain. Falling on the ground with a thump fainted and all the Reaperegos came bursting through the door into the room.

“Scarlett! Shawna! Go stabilize Skye first!” Felicia ordered, “Glitcher, Delta go to the end of the slide and slow Skye down once she’s there.” And by that, Shadow Glitcher and Delta slide down the slide to their room.

“Get up Skye! You can do it!” Scarlett encouraged Skye, helping Shawna to stabilize her and wait for Felicia’s order.

“YOOOOOOOOOO!” Felicia shouted down the slide, “IS EVERYTHING READY DOWN THERE?”

A muffled “Yes!” came back and Felicia ordered, “Okay. Chef, go first, then Zeta, Anastasia, Galaxia and Harley go next. Me and Shawna will go with Skye and Scarlett go last.”

“Okay.” Everyone replied.

“Good. NOW GO!”

Chef Reaper, Zeta, Galaxia, Anastasia and Harley immediately rushed to the slide and left Skye’s room followed by Felicia and Shawna with the unconscious Skye. Scarlett looked around the room, walked towards the coat rack and took a floor length kimono that matched Skye’s nightgown and followed the rest.

The library part slide itself is made of glass like crystals so when they slided down the slide, they can see the library. The library has a rustic, magical vibe and several waterfalls falling from the ceiling to the floor, it has pools and pipes underneath the cedar wood flooring so when the water falls into the pools, it will travel through the pipes and fall into the Reaperegos’ room.

Entering the Reaperegos’ room, the slide’s material gradually turned from crystals to smooth white washed volcanic rocks and pumice stone. The Reaperegos’ room took up three out of twenty one floors of the mansion, located underneath the library and the Hall of Mystics and above the guest bedrooms on the thirteenth and fourteenth floor. Since Skye, Scarlett and Zeta were the main designers of the room, they turned the three floors into one large room and used the water from the library and Skye’s room to create more waterfalls forming an indoor cave paradise with two Santorini inspired cave houses connected by white tunnels and bridges. Magic!

“Guys, Skye is not breathing!” Delta informed everyone after she did a quick scan, “AND HER HEARTBEAT STOPPED!”

“SHIT! QUICK! CARRY HER TO THE POOL!”

They carried Skye to the east wing a few feet away near the end of the slide where they turned it into an enchanted pool with healing powers and gently put Skye in it. The bluish silver enchanted water swallowed Skye as she slowly sank to the bottom of the shallow pool, healing her and resumed her heartbeat and breathing. She slowly opened her eyes and got out of the pool walking towards the egos, leaving wet footprints on the wooden floor.

“Ugh my head…” Skye grunted, “What happened?” She asked weakly, confused by suddenly waking up in the enchanted pool instead of her room. Scarlett handed her the kimono and Skye wore it quickly.

“You fainted Skye. Your breathing stopped and had a cardiac arrest.” Delta answered, her LED yellow the entire time. “I ran a quick scan when we bursted into your room. Your stress levels were at 82% and that’s really high.”

“We heard you screaming. So I informed Scarlett and Galaxia and they informed the rest.” Zeta added.

“Then we carried you into the pool and healed you.” Glitcher concluded.

“You really need to be careful Skye. One minute you’re okay and the other you almost died!” Felicia fretted, “We cannot always stay with you 24/7! We cannot save you every time you get hurt!”

“Guys, I really am okay!”

“NO YOU’RE NOT SKYE!” Scarlett insisted, “YOU ALWAYS PRETEND YOU’RE FINE BUT YOU’RE NOT! YOU LIED TO EVERYONE ABOUT YOUR PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH AND SAYING YOU’RE OKAY!” Scarlett continued, pushing Skye towards the white washed wall and pinning her there, “WE ARE YOUR FRIENDS! YOUR ALTER EGOS! WE ARE A PART OF YOU, OF YOUR MIND!” She screamed, “STOP LYING TO US!”

“I DIDN’T!” Skye denied.

“YES YOU ARE! STOP LYING! YOU’RE NOT OKAY!” Scarlett argued with Skye, not noticing Harley Megane curled up on the grey tiled floor shivering and whimpering.

“I SWEAR TO GOD I DIDN’T LIE!”

“YES YOU DID! AND WHY THE FUCK DID YOU HAVE CARDIAC ARREST? ARE YOU HIGH ON LOVECRAFT?”

“WHAT? OF COURSE NOT! WHY WOULD I DO DRUGS?”

“THEN WHY YOU HAD A FUCKING CARDIAC ARREST?”

“I DON’T FUCKING KNOW!”

“STOP TELLING ME ALL THESE BULLSHIT! TELL ME THE TRUTH!”

“I TOLD YOU THE TRUTH ALREADY!”

“Guys, STOP ARGUING!” Zeta screamed, interrupting them as Shawna and Anastasia calmed Harley down. “Let’s put this aside and go to bed. And Skye? Don’t lie anymore.”

“I didn’t… nevermind.” Skye murmured. And Scarlett stormed back to her room, throwing daggers on the wall.

“Skye, go back to your room and get rest.” Zeta ordered.

“But…”

“NOW!”

Skye slowly walked out of the room and up the stairs back to her room crying, oblivious to a dark shadow spying on her and vanished.

“Will Harley be okay, Dr Castillo and Delta?” Shawna asked.

“Yes she will.” Felicia answered.

Delta scanned Harley and informed them, “Ms Megane’s stress level is now at 54%. But her emotions are still unstable.”

“I’ll get her some tea.” Chef Reaper said and went to the kitchen.

Harley looked around, “Will Skye be alright? She still has… self harming tendencies.” Harley asked softly, just above whisper.

“I don’t know.” Zeta replied softly, “I feel bad shouting at her. It’s bad for her mental health.”

“But if you don’t shout at her and Scarlett,” Anastasia said, “Things will get worse.”

“I think we all should get some rest. It’s been a long night.” Galaxia suggested, everyone nodded their heads in agreement and went back to their own cave room. “Here. Let me get you back to your room.” Galaxia told Harley, lifting her up and walked up the stairs to their right and turned left to Harley’s room. It’s padded and has a white bed in the middle of the room. She tucked her in and left the room, locking the door in case something happens.

Galaxia went back to her own cave room, sat on the bed and opened her diary. “I hope the relationship between Skye and Scarlett will get better…” She sighed, scribbled something in her diary and went to bed asleep.

“I never meant to make it such a mess.  
I never thought that it would go this far.  
So I just stand here sorry.  
Searching for something to say.  
Something to say.  
Words fail, words fail.  
There's nothing I can say.”

Skye stood on the balcony and sang softly, she changed out of her wet nightgown into a silver coloured slip and a matching floor length robe that looked like the one Taylor Swift wore while singing Blank Space in Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show 2014. Cool wind blew on her face and continued to sing.

“I guess I thought I could be part of this.  
I never had this kind of thing before.  
I never had that perfect girl.  
Who somehow could see the good part of me.”

More tears spilled out of Skye’s eyes and they slowly turned into ice.

“I never had the dad who stuck it out.  
No corny jokes or baseball gloves.  
No mom who just was there.  
'Cause mom was all that she had to be.

That's not a worthy explanation.  
I know there is none.  
Nothing can make sense of all these things I've done.”

She stood on the railing of the balcony and sang loudly. Crying all her tears out until she can’t.

“Words fail, words fail.  
There's nothing I can say.  
Except sometimes, you see everything you wanted.  
And sometimes, you see everything you wish you had.  
And it's right there, right there, right there.  
In front of you.  
And you want to believe it's true.  
So you make it true.  
And you think maybe everybody wants it.  
And needs it, a little bit too.”

She sang on two more verses and she finally broke down.

“'Cause I've learned to slam on the brake.  
Before I even turn the key.  
Before I make the mistake.  
Before I lead with the worst of me.  
I never let them see the worst of me.

'Cause what if everyone saw?  
What if everyone knew?  
Would they like what they saw?  
Or would they hate it too?  
Will I just keep on running away from what's true?”

Skye slowly stepped back down and walked back into the warm room. Shutting the balcony door and laid on the bed, whispering the last verse as she fell asleep.

“All I ever do is run.  
So how do I step in.  
Step into the sun?  
Step into the sun.”

…

“Skye… Skye…”

“Hey bro, are you okay?”

“Earth to Middleton, come in MIddleton.”

“Skye, it’s Arthur, are you okay?”

“WAKE UP REAPER!” Scarlett slapped Skye hard across the face and she finally woke up from her continuous stabbing on Sneeze’s toast. “IT’S ME! SCARLETT!”

“What the fuck?” Skye exclaimed after fleeing from Scarlett’s second deadly slap.

“You have been stabbing my toast for twenty eight minutes.” Emilia said, taking back her toast from Skye and ate it. Everyone paused and looked at her. Jimmy and Joel were filled with questions while the others had a mischievous glint in their eyes. “Shit.”

“TWENTY EIGHT STAB WOUNDS!” Delta screamed after she slammed her hand on the table loudly.

“Ah shit. Here we go again.” Chef Reaper shook her head and covered her ears.

“YOU DIDN’T WANNA LEAVE HIM A CHANCE, HUH?” Skye continued reciting the script.

“DID YOU FEEL ANGER? HATE?” Jimmy picked up his toast, pointed his knife at the toast and questioned it.

“I KNOW YOU KILLED HIM, WHY WON’T YOU SAY IT?” Anastasia laughed, imitating Bryan Dechart’s voice in Detroit: Become Human.

“JUST SAY “I KILLED HIM” IS IT THAT HARD TO SAY?” Anti screamed, giggling hard and Harley and Dark covered their ears.

“JUST SAY YOU KILLED HIM, JUST SAY IT!” Everyone screamed, except Chef who escaped to the kitchen and Harley and Dark still covering their ears.

“Jesus fucking christ that’s earrape.” Infelix laughed, continuing to finish his breakfast.

“Imma go prepare for the mission.” Skye announced, walking out of the dining room.

“But you haven’t eaten anything.” Arthur said.

“I’m not hungry.” Skye replied bluntly.

“Just drink the blueberry coconut protein smoothie? Please?” Felicia insisted, “Just for the sake of your health?”

“Fine.” Skye sighed, taking a cup of smoothie and went to the greenhouse studio and changed into the black flapper dress. She then left the studio and went outside, spread her wings, and flew to the balcony of her room. She then turned left into her closet (that looked more like a showroom than a closet), and opened the drawer where Skye had all her headbands and headpieces stored. She tied her hair into a bun and wore a black rhinestone headpiece with feathers and a whip bracelet paired with a black beaded clutch bag.

Skye looked into the mirror, conflicting if she should take her locket off. The locket was too precious to get damaged since it’s the only thing her parents left for her. Right before taking it off, the silver screech owl shaped locket glowed and the unknown crystal in the middle had a weird black and red mist swirling inside. It’s creepy yet mesmerising. She decided to wear it during the mission, even though it's gonna be weird, but she had an urge that kept telling her to wear it.

“Let’s hope it won’t get damaged.” Skye said with a shrug, applying red lipstick and wore her black heels.She walked towards the bedside drawer and took out a holster and wrapped it around her thigh and put her trusty Ego Dagger in. She took the elevator to the laboratory and took a taser lipstick, a mirror tracker, some other miscellaneous disguise and put them in the clutch.

“We figured you’d be here.” Jimmy said, leaning on the wall with Joel, the rest of the Frontline team, Infelix, Anti, Dark and Scarlett. They already changed into their costumes and were ready for the mission.

“So. Good morning Kenisha and the rest of the rest of the Control team.” Skye said into the earpiece, “How are y'all doing today?”

“ _Morning Skye!_ ” Kenisha replied.

“ _I want a pay raise._ ” Larry said, “ _This shit is hard man. That storm is so freaky._ ”

“ _Yeah! It changes constantly and it’s so weird!_ ” Klaudia exclaimed.

“Could you do a quick check and see if we are safe to leave base?” Arthur asked.

“ _Sure._ ” Nicole and Natalie answered at the same time. “ _Yes it’s safe. Be careful guys._ ”

“Thanks guys.” Skye thanked them, “Now. Let’s resume our rescue mission.”

…

“Are you sure this will work?” Mandy asked Anti. They already packed up the tent and were ready for the mission.

“Yes.” Anti replied.

“I thought this only works on alter egos.” Matthew said.

“Don’t worry.” Dark reassured, “We tried this on Felix, Jack and Mark and it works.”

“Oh… okay.”

“Hands in the middle bros.” Infelix instructed, putting his hand in the middle. Everyone puts their hands on top of Infelix’s and he continued, “And close your eyes now.”

Everyone closed their eyes and suddenly they heard music and loud noises. They opened their eyes and saw a large board with the name “Shadow Circus”.

“THAT’S IT! WE'RE HERE!” Andriena shouted excitedly.

They slowly walked into the circus and a clown jumped in front of them. Waving her arms like a gorilla in a jungle.

"WELCOME LADIES AND GENTLEMEN TO THE SHADOW CIRCUS!" The clown cackled, opening her arms wide and invited us into the circus tent. "COME ON IN! THE SHOW IS ABOUT TO START!"

They sat down on the second role of the benches up the front and looked around. The circus tent looked like any other circus tents. Red and white striped and a ring filled with sand in the middle. More and more “people” in black sat on the benches and gave an uneasy and creepy vibe to everyone.

"That's… really creepy." Artemis remarked. "Makes me think of Escape the Night with Joey Graceffa Season 3. "

Joel picked up a newspaper that was conveniently located next to him and looked at the front page. "Guys? We're in big trouble."

"Technically taking part of this rescue mission is already a big trouble but go on. What's bothering you?" Skye asked.

Joel showed them the front page of the newspaper and Jimmy read aloud.

"The Carnival Master and his gang of killer clowns is now hosting a more deadly Shadow Circus. Spotlight of the night: Electric trapeze performance by LDShadowLady from the Overworld." Jimmy said, "This was issued on the day we were kidnapped."

"Shit." Arthur said.

“This really is a one way ticket to hell.” Jeff commented.

“We’re technically already doomed.” Scarlett said, fiddling with her purple flapper dress. “At least you guys got four alter egos here.”

“Demons cooperating with humans.” Anti giggled, “Now that’s quite the tea!”

“I regret coming along.” Artemis sighed, shaking her head. “I should’ve stuck with the Control team.”

“Hey Delta, could you do a quick scan of this place?” Infelix requested.

“Sure.” Delta answered, scanning the place once more immediately and answered. “Including the clown, Cassy, that just welcomed us, there are ten killer clowns in total. One back in the entrance, three in the makeup area, four backstage and two in the ringmaster's tent.” Delta blinked her eyes a bit more and continued, “The two clowns with the ringmaster are Cassy and the leader of the killer clowns, Slingshot.”

“Ten killer clowns.” Matthew said, “We’re really doomed.”

The lights started to dim and everyone stood up and clapped their hands. The team remains seated unamused by what’s happening around them.

“Fuck this shit.” Skye murmured, “Let’s do this shit,”

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! BOYS AND GIRLS!” The person with his back to everyone said, “WELCOME TO THE SHADOW CIRCUS! MY NAME IS THE CARNIVAL MASTER AND WELCOME! TO THE MORE DEADLY VERSION OF MY CIRCUS!”

The Carnival Master turned to the audience and continued his speech. “TODAY WE HAVE A SPECIAL TRAPEZE PERFORMANCE! SHE IS A GORGEOUS PINK HAIRED LADY FROM THE OVERWORLD. AND HER NAME… IS LDSHADOWLADY.”

“Artemis? This...” Skye whispered at Artemis, “This is Escape the Night with Joey Graceffa Season 3.”

“Do you think…” Artemis paused for a second, then continued. “The masquerade ball we will be attending later… is Season 2?”

“Most likely.”

“SO PLEASE, SIT BACK! RELAX! AND…” The Carnival Master stared at Skye with an evil smirk, “...enjoy the show.”


End file.
